Wonderful life

We've been trying to spend even more time with the kids than usual since Ethan's death in August.It was such a shock for everyone but it's especially hard for the children to understand how a young person could die so suddenly.

Thomas got a promotion to Corporate Lawyer and he has to work long hours but he dedicates his free time to reading to the girls or playing catch with Jett. We're doing very well financially now so that's one less thing to stress about nowadays.

Skye has been begging us to let her start riding lessons for years now. There was no stopping her once Rhys Gallagher and his sister Rory moved in the neighborhood and started a riding school just across the street from our house. Thomas and I went with her for her first lesson - one of the reasons being that we wanted to be sure it's a good establishment with responsible adults looking after the kids. I was a bit hesitant when I realised how young the Gallagher siblings were - Rhys is 23 and Rory is 18 - but they seemed like they know what they're doing.

Rory helped Skye get the horse ready for the lesson and I could already tell that she will become Skye's idol. Much better choice than idolising some brainless pop princess.

The first few lessons are ridden without a saddle. "This way you feel the horse's movements better and can get used to riding" Rhys explained. I don't think I've ever seen Skye smile so widely before!

Skye would've probably wanted to take the horse home with her if it was possible. We practically had to drag her away from the stable.

I can't believe she's going to start high school next year. I can already see the first symptoms of puberty on her and Iona. They visit each other almost every day and spend most of their time gossiping.

I'm just glad that Skye has such a good friend. Thomas is already worrying that she'll probably start dating as soon as she goes to high school. He's not amused when I remind him that we were only 13 and 14 when we started dating.

With children developing so fast nowadays it's nice to see that at least Kyra and Lina don't think they're too old to play with the dollhouse they have in their room.

Jett still kisses me goodnight every evening before going to bed. Of course he's totally mortified if I even ruffle his hair in the public but deep down he's still mommy's little special guy.

We've been inviting Alexandra and Quinn over for a few times after August. Alexandra doesn't feel like going anywhere but everyone agrees that she has to get out of the house every now and then.

We try to keep the dinners really stress-free. Alexandra isn't quite ready to talk about what happened to Ethan although I know she goes to therapy. I guess it's easier to talk to an outsider than to someone who knew and loved Ethan.

I can't even imagine how she's feeling. The thought of losing a child is so terrifying that I can't even get myself to think about it.

I'm just very grateful for every moment I get to spend with my children.

Notes:

Title reference: Wonderful life by Hurts.

Sorry for the long hiatus. I was feeling quite uninspired with the game for some time but I think I've gotten the good ol' Sims spirit back and will hopefully get a few more updates done this year.

Skye rolled the ros Night out with 2 closest sims and I chose to send her out for a riding lesson. The riding school (called Allerdale Equestrian Centre) is still mostly under construction but I'll post a tour once it's finished. The Gallagher siblings are the newest addition to my playable NPCs and I've updated the page with some info about them.

10 comments:

It is very interesting for me to see all the things that are possible with hacks and CC in the game, since I am using none. I didn't even know someone has created rideable horses for TS2!Yellow is my favourite colour, so I really like the dining room in this house :-)

The riding school is so cool! If you didn't know anything about TS2, you could be forgiven for thinking we had real horses, based on those pics. Seriously awesome. I'm very interested to see the whole tour, when it's done!

It's not until a sim dies that you realise how many other people would have been affected by their death. This whole family is going through a healing process right now, I guess. So sad but at least it's brought Nyah a new appreciation of her family.

I hope Skye keeps up the riding when she ages so that I'll have more use for the riding school!

Yup, Nyah was 14 and Thomas was 13 when they started dating. I had a different aging and calendar system back then but that's how old they were approximately. They started young but they've done really well.

You've talked about this riding school in twitter, and all I can think since I saw the first pictures is 'I want that too!!' and I really want that too!

Those picture as just amazing! And it all looks great! I was wondering, if you don't mind, but where did you find all that stuff? And the pose box? And Rory's hair? And I'm so sorry for all the wcif's, but I simply love your riding school-idea :)

That's always what I think when I saw pictures of other simmers' community lots, lol!

I don't mind the wcif's at all! I found most of the equestrian stuff from equus-sims:http://www.equus-sims.com/p/downloads-sims-2.htmland ThatScaryChick:http://thatscarychick.com/?cat=45. They don't create for TS2 anymore but their stuff is amazing. If you need something that you see in my pics and can't find at those two sites then feel free to ask, I have downloaded separate items from other sites as well.

The riding posebox is here: http://www.feenwald.de/en/sonst_pose.phpI just enabled it for children. Rory's pose in that riding pic is from some other posebox. All other poses with the horses are actually just game animations.

Rory's hair is a recolour by Lilith and you can find it here: http://lilith-sims.tumblr.com/post/27735508224/here-are-some-fresh-downloads-for-you-3-we-have

I haven't finished building the stables yet but I'll post a tour as soon as I'm done.

Wow! I love the riding school! It's amazing so far! I remember you talking about it on Twitter or somewhere and I was really eager to see the pics. I would love to have that in my game but I know absolutely nothing about horses, riding, or riding schools ;). Skye looks like she had such an amazing time. And Rory is adorable.

I'm glad they were able to get Alexandra and Quinn out of the house for a little bit. Can't even imagine how she's coping right now :(.

I'm with you on the long hiatus from the game. I still haven't got bug to start writing yet but I have been organizing downloads and remodeling lots. It's just a matter of time before I get in and start playing a household again, I hope.

I was really into horses when I was younger, even considered making a career out of it but I haven't ridden in about 10 years now. I think the riding school is sort of a homage to all those years spent at the stables. I think both Gallagher siblings turned out quite cute and hopefully they'll end up pairing up with my playables, lol.

It's so common for someone who grieves to completely shut out the rest of the world so I'm glad Alexandra and Quinn are getting out of the house. They're going through some really difficult times but at least they have their friends and family supporting them.

I haven't fired up my game for a long time but I've been organizing my DL folder as well. I've been quite busy with all kinds of other stuff but hopefully I'll get my playing mojo back soon.